Many motor vehicles are equipped with automatic traction control systems that reduce the tractive effort of the vehicle through engine torque reduction and/or wheel braking when excessive wheel spin is detected. However, such systems can be expensive to implement, particularly in applications where vehicle sensors and/or actuators must be added to support the traction control function. Accordingly, what is needed is a low-cost traction control method that limits the vehicle drive torque during operation on low traction road surfaces.